Aircraft components such as stringers have become complex in design and shape due to developing aircraft designs. The complexity of shape in combination with a need for decreased weight/strength ratios requires the use of alternate construction technologies. For this reason, aircraft designers have turned to the use of composite ply assemblies for the manufacture of aircraft stringers. In these manufacturing scenarios, a material ply impregnated with epoxy or similar substance is layed-up onto a mandrel shaped to generated the complex shape. The composite ply assembly is then cured to generate a composite component with the desired complex shape.
The nature of laying up material plies onto complex shaped mandrels, however, generates a plurality of manufacturing concerns and issues. One of such issues is the generation of wrinkles in the lay-up surfaces of the final component. These wrinkles can interfere with final assembly and may even in some circumstances weaken the strength of the final component. This is clearly undesirable. In addition, the complex shaping of the mandrels often places limits on the mandrel construction techniques. Standard metal fabrication of mandrels often is overly costly and cannot reliably result in the precise complex structures required for modern aircraft design requirements. The use of composite mandrel assemblies partially alleviates these concerns, but in turn results in costly mandrels that are easily damaged and do not have the lifespan of the metal fabricated counterparts.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to have an aircraft stringer lay-up assembly with improved removal of wrinkles from the lay-up surfaces. It would additionally be highly desirable to have such an apparatus and method that was compatible with inexpensive and increased lifespan mandrels.